


Hunting Games

by Higuchimon



Series: Reversal [29]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! GX
Genre: Chapter Set Boot Camp, Collect The Death Duelists, Diversity Writing Challenge, GX Non-Flash Bingo, Gen, Novella Masterclass, Word Count Set Boot Camp
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-30
Updated: 2020-06-06
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:29:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,428
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24464245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Higuchimon/pseuds/Higuchimon
Summary: Every Juudai in every universe has a Hane Kuriboh.  Even the Haou of the Destructive Darkness.  This is how it happened here.
Series: Reversal [29]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/729855
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	1. Chapter 1

**Series:** Reversal|| **Title:** Hunting Games  
**Characters:** Guardian Baou, Juudai, Geise|| **Ship:** N/A  
**Chapter:** One|| **Words:** 1,106|| **Total:** 1,106  
**Genre:** Drama|| **Rated:** PG  
**Challenges:** Diversity Writing: YGO GX: Reversal: I19, 1000-2000 wpc; Word COunt Set Boot Camp, GX, #32, 15,833; Chapter Set Boot Camp, #7, 15 chapters; GX Non-Flash Bingo, #3, euphoria; Novella Masterclass, #10, The Wild Card; Collect the Death Duelists: Guardian Baou  
**Notes:** This takes place in the reversal AU. Before Juudai captures Johan.  
**Summary:** Every Juudai in every universe has a Hane Kuriboh. Even the Haou of the Destructive Darkness. This is how it happened here.

* * *

Guardian Baou wasn’t really good at shopping. He preferred his servants to bring things to him that he could choose from rather than searching for himself. But this was a special occasion – one that might come around regularly, but it was the first of its kind for him, and he wanted to make a good impression. 

After all, if one didn't make a good impression on Haou-sama, one might very well face him in the dueling circle. Or worse – he might kill you without even the honor of a duel. Guardian Baou had seen it happen before. 

He strolled his way through the market, looking for anything that might catch his eye. So far nothing had, at least not anything that he might really want to spend any coin on. 

_What would he like?_ He had a few ideas, at least. Haou-sama liked to hurt people. He was very good at it. So perhaps a slave of some kind? He hadn’t shown any interest in the few members of the nascent rebellion that they’d managed to capture. They were for the arena or for doing menial work around the palace. 

One of them tried to poison Haou. That really didn’t go very well. At least they’d entertained Haou-sama afterwards by dying valiantly in the arena. 

Baou wasn't going to strike the idea of a slave off of his mental list, not yet. He knew Haou-sama didn’t require any new cards, at least not yet. He did spend a few minutes at the card traders’ section, however, and purchased a few cards for himself. He could always stand to upgrade his deck. Being one of Haou-sama’s Death Duelists meant being ready to duel and kill at any time. 

He drifted on a little farther. He paid no attention to the food sellers. Haou-sama had any food that he wanted. The jewelry sellers had nothing useful – not that Haou-sama was one for jewels regardless. Perhaps they could have been useful for his twisted magics, though. Still, nothing there. 

At last he made his way to the slave auction area. Before Haou’s rise to power, slavery had been something of an underground thing. In other realms, slaves were allowed to earn their freedom. Stories Baou heard about Celestia’s realm where Haou grew up – such a strange thing to even think, that he’d grown to adulthood there – hadn’t even had slaves in centuries. Haou changed that now that he ruled. 

He’d changed a lot of things once he’d taken the throne for his own. Baou quite approved of that. 

There wasn’t anyone here that he thought would really spark an interest in his master, though. Humans and spirits and monsters all huddled there in chains, some of them glaring fearfully, others cowering away. A few of the fiercer ones could be possible, but Baou really did not think they would suit. 

He was about to turn away and head for another market, perhaps with better wares, when he heard the sharp crack of a whip. 

“Get back!” A fierce voice shouted. “Down!” 

Baou headed that way. Whatever was going on, it interested him. When he arrived at the source of the shouting, he saw a tall human, covered in scars and wielding a whip against a tiny angel spirit. Key Mace, Guardian Baou thought it was – not one he’d encountered in person before. The spirit huddled back against a small rickety shed, arms wrapped around what Baou first took as a fur of some kind, until it shifted to reveal pristine white wings and a fiercer expression. 

“Hane Kuriboh! No!” Key Mace squeaked as the tiny creature flew towards the whip-wielder, rage in those shining eyes. 

The whip user cracked his weapon again, lashing it across the fuzzball’s face, and knocking him back, uttering a laugh nearly as mad as what Baou heard around the dinner table. 

“You little spirits can’t do anything against me! Just stay down and wait for someone to pay good money for you!” 

Now this was interesting. Guardian Baou cleared his throat and the whipper turned towards him. 

“Who are you?” He asked, resting his hands on his hips. “Come to check out my wares?” 

“Perhaps. What exactly do you have?” Guardian Baou’s attention shifted from the two smaller ones to a few others in cages of various types. None of them seemed to want to meet his eyes. All of them seemed to be terrified of their captor, as well as being very weak spirits. No one here that would give Haou-sama the fight that he loved so very much. 

The whipper coiled his whip and set it on his hip. “Well, first, answer the question. Who are you?” 

“Guardian Baou. I serve Haou-sama.” Guardian Baou told him with a mild quirk to one eye. “And who are you?” 

“Geise Hunt. I capture these creatures and sell them where they can be useful.” He rubbed his chin, staring at Baou for a few minutes. “Haou-sama, you say. Well, I think he’d like any of my specimens here.” He gestured towards the caged creatures. “Pick what you’d like. Bargain prices!” 

Baou dismissed almost all of them at once. None of them had that fire that he knew Haou-sama so loved to fan to flames and then extinguish. 

“I want that one.” He nodded towards the Kuriboh with the wings. “What do you want for it?” 

“Hane Kuriboh?” Geise’s eyes narrowed. “That’s a special catch. I only just made it a few days ago. Don’t quite know what it can do but it hasn’t learned its place yet. Don’t know if I should sell it to Haou-sama.” 

“You let me be the judge of that,” Baou told him. After all, he knew his liege lord quite well. Haou-sama would love doing whatever necessary to tame the wild creature. Baou had seen him deal with Elemental Hero Neos and that had been a work of sheer beauty. 

Geise considered. “What’s the occasion?” Calculations clearly marched on behind his eyes. Baou saw no reason not to tell him. 

“It’s his birthday.” His twenty-second, in fact. Haou-sama had a huge party planned and Baou wanted to make certain he had a good present. 

He would have liked to have brought the head of the resistance leader but the brat never seemed to get where he could conveniently be caught. Perhaps another time. 

Baou didn’t miss the quick twist of a smile over Geise's features. 

“Then let me offer this as a free gift to Haou-sama. Perhaps he’d like to choose others of my trophies later. Or I can bring him something that he desires.” 

Baou chuckled. “We shall see.” 

* * *

**To Be Continued**

Notes: If you haven't already, let me know if you'd like Reversal to have a good ending or a bad ending. Updates regularly on Saturdays!


	2. Chapter 2

**Series:** Reversal|| **Title:** Hunting Games  
 **Characters:** Guardian Baou, Juudai, Geise|| **Ship:** N/A  
 **Chapter:** Two|| **Words:** 1,016|| **Total:** 2,122  
 **Genre:** Drama|| **Rated:** PG  
 **Challenges:** Diversity Writing: YGO GX: Reversal: I19, 1000-2000 wpc; Word COunt Set Boot Camp, GX, #32, 15,833; Chapter Set Boot Camp, #7, 15 chapters; GX Non-Flash Bingo, #3, euphoria; Novella Masterclass, #10, The Wild Card; Collect the Death Duelists: Guardian Baou  
 **Notes:** This takes place in the reversal AU. Before Juudai captures Johan.  
 **Summary:** Every Juudai in every universe has a Hane Kuriboh. Even the Haou of the Destructive Darkness. This is how it happened here.

* * *

Juudai lounged on his throne, comfortable in the piles of cushions, nodding his head to the music being played. He nibbled on some fried shrimp as he did, not bothering to think too much about the war and those ridiculous rebels. Today was his birthday and he didn’t need to think about _work_. 

Next to him stood a black marble table, being guarded by Elemental Hero Neos. Neos stood without a word, though he’d been there most of the day without a rest or food. Juudai would allow him to rest after the party. But someone had to guard his birthday presents, and he enjoyed seeing Neos there. 

He’d opened most of them already and so far he hadn’t needed to decide that someone had to die for offering a substandard present. Some of them he didn’t like, but they were all of suitable quality. None of them were perfect, though. They tried. They just didn’t achieve what he wanted. 

But at the same time, he wasn’t even sure of what he wanted, what would be the perfect present. It would be nice if he could get hold of that Johan Andersen. The rebel leader annoyed him by existing. Juudai hadn’t decided what he would do once he caught the brat – and he knew that he would, one day – but he wanted the chance to decide. 

His fingers brushed into the bowl of fried shrimp and he growled to find there weren’t any more of them. He’d eaten the whole thing. He snapped his fingers, and one of his slaves popped up at once. 

“Haou-sama?” The slave murmured. Juudai tapped at the bowl. 

“Get me more fried shrimp.” He knew they were rare around here. He didn’t care. Ever since he’d first tasted them, he’d loved nothing more. Juudai really wasn’t sure if he loved things at all – other than the destruction that was his pure existence – but he certainly enjoyed those. 

“Having fun?” The question came from behind him. Most people couldn’t do that to him – come up without him being aware of them – but he didn’t twitch as he turned to look at Fallen Angel Lucifer. 

For all intents and purposes, his father. At least in this particular incarnation. 

“It’s my birthday,” Juudai pointed out. “Why wouldn’t I be?” 

Lucifer chuckled. “And it’s time for your present from me, my son.” 

Juudai swung to his feet at once. He’d always loved Lucifer’s presents over the last five years. The first one had been the knowledge of exactly who and what he really was – he’d been told little things about it before, but on his seventeenth birthday, Lucifer spoke to him for the very first time, telling him what Celestia never had. 

He sort of missed her. But not very much. She’d deserved exactly what he did to her for what she’d done to him. 

Lucifer extended one hand, a single one of his black feathers floating on it. Juudai reached out and touched the feather. The moment that he did, it shifted and changed, becoming a small box, the top of which popped open. Inside he saw a small gemstone, a gleaming pearl. 

“Before you were ever conceived in this lifetime, I crushed the kingdom of Norbu, the home of the Light of Creation. Not much of the royal treasure survived. But this is one of those that did. Bound in that pearl is a spark of Creation’s Light. In the hands of the descendants of Bijou, the last queen, this pearl could recreate all of the universe.” 

Juudai stared at it. The deepest part of him, the part that was the Destructive Darkness, seethed at the sight of the essence of its mortal enemy within his grip. He closed his hand around it. The pearl shuddered at his touch; he could feel an awareness in there, but it kept as far from him as possible. He chuckled. 

“Thank you, Father. I’ll keep it safe.” He wanted to destroy it. But he was Destruction and so he wanted to destroy everything. For ow, he would keep it safe. If there were any of Bijou’s kindred out there anywhere, they would want this back. Knowing that he had it would bring them into his clutches. 

Lucifer smiled warmly down at him. Then he raised his head and nodded to someone Juudai couldn’t see. “I think you have another gift approaching.” 

Juudai glanced over and saw Guardian Baou approaching. He didn’t really have a favorite of his Death Duelists but Baou certainly entertained him more than some of the others, such as the Magician twins. Baou also held a cage in one hand, with something inside of it. That by itself caught his attention and he moved over to see more about it. 

“Haou-sama,” Guardian Baou said as he dropped to his knees, humbly regarding the floor. “I’ve brought this to be your gift.” 

Juudai eyed the cage. “What _is_ that?” He’d seen Kuribohs before – he’d even hunted them – but to see one that had _wings_? That was new even for him. 

“This is Hane Kuriboh, Haou-sama. I purchased him from a hunter.” Baou nudged the cage over to Juudai, who bent down to pick it up and stare at the strange creature within. “Happy birthday.” 

Juudai licked his lips, examining his new gift, turning the cage this way and that. “Hello there,” he murmured. He noticed a stripe underneath the fur and slid one hand into the cage to brush against it. His fingers came away with the slightest bit of blood there. His eyes narrowed. “When did you buy him?” 

“Not that long ago. Perhaps a couple of days. I was lucky to return in time to give it to you.” 

Juudai looked carefully at the stripe. The wound was old, more so than a couple of days. Not Baou’s fault. Good; he would hate to get rid of a useful servant. 

“Where did you get him from?” Juudai could feel his blood-lust rising as he settled the cage down on the table. “I would like to speak with them. As soon as possible.” 

* * *

**To Be Continued**

**Notes:** Gee, can you guess what Juudai has in mind?   
**Extra Notes:** As of August 5, 2020, this story is on indefinite hiatus. I intended to restart in September, but YGO GX Month came up and it gave me ideas. So, once that’s taken care of, I’ll return to my WIPs.


End file.
